Labor Day parade will stay in Rockford

ROCKFORD — Aldermen voted Monday to authorize the Labor Day parade to march through downtown Rockford again this year after organizers warned they may hold festivities elsewhere.

City Council members voted 9-2 to approve a permit needed for the Labor Day parade that’s three weeks away. Aldermen Venita Hervey and Ann Thompson-Kelly voted against. The vote came after nearly a half hour of debate.

Aldermen balked at approving the permit last week after some objected to the $100 fee politicians are charged to march and the requirement that participants have a union sponsor in order to join the parade. Council members decided to send the issue back for committee review in hopes parade organizers may drop the fee and sponsorship requirement. But those requirements stayed and organizers warned a lack of support from the City Council could force them to hold the parade elsewhere.

“If the city votes it down tonight, the first call tomorrow will be to Loves Park and Machesney Park,” said Jay Ferraro, chairman of the Labor Day Parade Committee, in a phone interview before the meeting. “It’d be a little challenging to move it this late, but we’re prepared to do it.”

Some aldermen felt they should be exempt from the $100 fee because the city pays the cost to provide police, traffic control and barricades for the event. The city pays $5,466 for barricades and $6,520 for police services at the annual parade, according to a resolution aldermen approved Monday.

Hervey and Thompson-Kelly expressed concern about the need for labor sponsorship, which they said excludes some from participating in an event partially funded by taxpayers on public streets.

“They have limited participation to people who pledge fealty to them,” said Hervey, a Democrat who represents the city’s Fifth Ward.

Thompson-Kelly said the parade should celebrate all labor, not just union workers.

“I’m not against unions, but Rockford has a union Labor Day parade. Not a Labor Day parade,” Thompson-Kelly, a Democrat from the Seventh Ward, said emphasizing the words union and labor. “A lot of our employees can’t even march in this parade, because they’re not sponsored by the union.”

Ferraro said the sponsorship requirement was motivated by the governor’s race and meant to ensure those who march have a favorable view of labor unions. Union leaders have denounced gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner for fear he will try to limit collective bargaining rights for public sector unions much like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

“When Rauner puts out on these ads that he wants to eliminate collective bargaining and eliminate unions, who in their right mind would sign for him to be in a Labor Day Parade?” Ferraro said of the sponsorship requirement. “That’s why that’s on there.”

The money politicians pay to march, which isn’t charged to other participants, is used to support local school bands, cheer and dance squads that participate in the parade, Ferraro said. That fee has generated between $1,100 and $1,500 in each of the past four years. That’s about half of what the Labor Day committee pays to the school groups for their participation, Ferraro said. The parade is financially supported by donations from several labor groups and other supporters.

Ald. Tim Durkee, a Republican from the First Ward, called the parade a private event hosted on public streets because of the sponsorship requirement. He voted in favor of the Labor Day parade permit, but said the City Council should consider requiring organizers to pay for police and traffic control in future years.

Kevin Haas: 815-987-1410; khaas@rrstar.com; @KevinMHaas

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.